In the days leading up to Friday's start of men's basketball practice, GoldandBlack.com is taking a comprehensive look at the 2007-08 Boilermakers. Today, we look at the newcomers.

As was the case last season, Coach Matt Painter's team is an unknown commodity.It's not that the third-year Boilermaker coach doesn't know what he has personnel-wise; it's just that the sum of his squad's parts remains to be seen.

Why? Because Purdue welcomes seven newcomers, who'll make up exactly 50 percent of the team's 14-man official roster and likely an even greater percentage of what should be the Boilermakers' playing rotation.

The rookies are (alphabetically):

• Junior college transfer Nemanja Calasan, a 6-foot-9 big man rated last year as one of the top J.C. players nationally.

• Freshman forward/guard Robbie Hummel, a versatile 6-8 player who was ranked as a top-100 player nationally out of Valparaiso High School.